Painting British Cromwells by Pete Ellis
Materials Used :
Flames of War British Armor Primer
Flames of War Paint Brush Set
Games Workshop wash Brush
Green Brown (879)
Stone Grey (884)
Russian Uniform (924)
US Dark Green (893)
Beige Brown (875)
Green Grey(886
English Uniform (921)
Khaki (988)
Game Color Heavy Skintone
Game Color Elf Flesh
GW Boltgun Metal
GW Gryphonne Sepia Wash
MIG Pigments - Dark Mud P033, Dry Mud P232
Vallejo Pigmets - Brown Iron Oxide
Magic Wash : 1/2 Water, 1/2 Future Floor Polish, two drops of the old GW Black Ink, one drop of Brown Ink
Gale Force 9 Super Glue
After cleaning all of the individual parts I assembled the Cromwell tank as per instruction. I did not wash the resin as I've found Battlefronts resin models to take paint quite well, even without a good soak, and I've yet to have any paint strip from any of the models I've done over the years of thiers.
The next step was to prime the model using straight Flames of War British Armor Primer. I have tested this stuff before (I have alot of German armor...) and I've found it to be perfect straight out of the can. If you want a bit of a brighter color you can prime it over white, but I did not feel that to be neccessary for this project. Again, I have had no issues with flaking or peeling paint when using the primer as a straight primer with no prebasing.
After waiting a few hours for the Primer to dry I hit it with my Magic Wash mix. I picked up this mix from alot of trial and error. A lot.
I did wait for the wash to dry for give or take about 3 hours. After it was dry I hit it with a drybrush of Russian Uniform, followed by a 50/50 light drybrush of Russan Uniform and Stone Grey. After that was dry I added more Stone Grey and hit the very edges, again very lightly. You can always add more paint if you feel that you need more, but you cannot take it off as easily.
I then painted the Hessian Strips and Camo Netting Green Brown, the tracks German Grey, the front cables Boltgun Metal, the bags US Dark Green, the roll Khaki, and the tools and crates Beige Brown. After that was dry I added in some GW Gryphonne Sepia to the Hessian Strips straight out of the bottle.
Now to the fun part!
I used my MIG Pigments and started applying some weathering! I applied a liberal coating of Dark Mud to the track guards, road wheels, front fenders, a bit on the top of the turret, and some on the engine deck. I applied some Iron Oxide to the tow cables on the front of the Cromwell, as well as sparingly on the tracks and shovel. I applied a bit of Dry Mud on the very edges of the track guards and anywhere else I thought that it was appropriate.
For the next bit, I got a bit carried away and mixed a few steps in one. I took a clean brush and cleaned up alot of the weathering, blending it in more with the tank so I didn't have loose powder all over the place. I also used it to remove some excess where I went a bit overboard. I base coated the crews uniforms with English Uniform, and hit the skin with Heavy Skintone from the Game Color range. Once those were dry I hit them with my Magic Wash, and once that was dry I highlighted with straight English Uniform, then 50/50 English Uniform and Stone Grey. The Skin was highlighted with a mix of 50/50 Heavy Skintone and Elf Skintone. I took a bit of Boltgun Metal and hit the edges of the tracks, where I felt that the tracks would see some wear and tear. At that point I hit the tank with a wash of Rubbing Alcohol to fix the pigments onto the model.
And presto! You now have a single painted Cromwell Tank suitable for your 7th AD or your Guards army! Huzzah!
